My dad lives with me and woke me up early who's morning saying he thinks he's having a heart attack so I called 999. Straight away I found it very frustrating and not at all like I thought it would be. I presumed that we would get swift treatment.
Unfortunately, things seemed ridiculously busy from the get go. I ended up in a queue waiting for an answer and when I finally got though was told that the wait for an ambulance for this kind of emergency would be up to 1 1/2 hours. Thankfully, a first responder arrived after about 15 mins. I have to say the paramedics were wonderful and really helpful. However, once we got to the hospital it was awful.
My dad was kept hanging around for 7 hours without seeing a Dr in spite of my requests and none of the staff were remotely interested. He had a blood test early in the morning and we were then put in a ambulatory assessment unit where we had said 7 hour wait. My dad's symptoms resolved fairly early on and he refused to stay any longer when it was clear that we would not be seen soon and he discharged himself. As soon as we got home the hospital rang us and said that my dad's blood test had cardiac markers and he had to go back in for another blood test. My dad refused as the day had been a real strain on him with a complete lack of care by the hospital staff.
I'm not sure what to do now. I've said to him that at the first sign of any further pain he has to tell me and I'll drive him straight to the hospital we normally use (the ambulance took him to a different one which was awful) but should I be doing anything else? Any advice gratefully received!
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If your Dads blood tests showed markers of tropimine that is a sign of a cardiac event They only show up in your blood for a couple of days. He needs to get his heart checked out properly so try to get him to go back even if he insists on going to your usual hospital Did they do ECG if not he needs one Any more pain and he needs to go in ASAP I am sorry you had such a bad experience but tell him not to let it put him off
I'd recommend that he goes back for another blood test....I guess they're talking about his troponin levels.....they could have dropped, but if they are still high your Dad needs further tests.Has there been local strike action in your area today.....hence the poor care you received?
Your Drs surgery should be able to check troponin levels, I know for a fact ours can with results received later the same day.
I’m sorry to hear about your dads hospital experience.
Unfortunately, you will find that this is pretty common across the U.K. now with huge ambulance delays, and A&E waiting times.
You did the right thing however by calling the ambulance. I hope this doesn’t put you off from calling them in the future should you need them.
Sometimes however, if you can, it might be quicker to drive your dad down to A&E yourself as with any chest related pain, it is important to act quickly.
When the hospital called, did they say if his cardiac markers were elevated and why they wanted him to go back in?
Could you convince him and take him in tomorrow just to be on the safe side so that he can have his bloods taken again.
If his symptoms get worse, please don’t hesitate to call 111 or 999 like you did.
"Unfortunately, you will find that this is pretty common across the U.K. now with huge ambulance delays, and A&E waiting times."
I am afraid I don't agree with this information.
I am a seasoned traveller through the system. I have been admitted to hospital 17 times over the last 10 years
I was last admitted to hospital in February for 12 days.
My husband called 999 and the Paramedics arrived within 30 minutes, slightly delayed for a category 2 call.
The ambulance and A&E waiting times have improved over the last few months.
If you call an ambulance the Paramedics can assess you at home and take you to heart attack centre if they think you are having a more serious heart attack.
This pre assessment by Paramedics and taking patients to the right hospital has reduced death rates from heart attacks.
The advice is to always ring 111 or 999 if you have chest pain not to drive into hospital unless advised by 111 to do so.
This information was actually given to me by a paramedic when I called 999 at the beginning of the year. I was also told that it would be quicker for me to arrange someone to take me as the wait for an ambulance was over 2 hours and I could in fact, get to the hospital sooner and get checked over.
I appreciate that this may not be the case in the part of the U.K. where you are from, but I believe recently, it’s become quite common to expect ambulance delays and hospital delays, though the hospital delays can be attributed to investigating and finding a diagnosis like Hidden has mentioned in his response to the OP.
Also, the advice was for the daughter to drive her father down if it makes things quicker as opposed to waiting and perhaps, risking symptoms worsening during that wait. I think we would all agree that anyone who is experiencing chest pain should not drive themselves.
"Sometimes however, if you can, it might be quicker to drive your dad down to A&E yourself as with any chest related pain, it is important to act quickly."
Yes, act quickly and call 111 or 999 for the appropriate advice from a trained Healthcare professional.
My personal preference, especially when quoted a 2-2.5 hour wait for an ambulance is to be driven down to the hospital due to not wanting to risk my symptoms getting worse and also improve my chances of getting there much quicker, whilst also trying to limit damage to my heart if possible. I appreciate this isn’t a choice or option available to everyone, and some are happy to wait despite the long response times in some instances.
Yes. As mentioned, the advice was it’s up to a 2 hour wait for an ambulance, despite the fact that they could hear I was struggling to breathe/talk over the phone. This advice was then followed by “you maybe able to reach the hospital quicker if you have someone that can take you”.. “I have to hang up now”.
Perhaps there are others like you with more positive experiences. This was just my own.
I have had some pretty awful experiences too over the years as well. I am sorry your experience was poor. You have up to a year to raise your concerns with the relevant ambulance service.
However you spoke to a healthcare professional first before you made your own way to hospital.
You did suggest the OP should drive their relative to hospital without them explicitly seeking advice from a healthcare professional first by ringing 111 or 999.
"Sometimes however, if you can, it might be quicker to drive your dad down to A&E yourself as with any chest related pain, it is important to act quickly."
Before making that statement which you quote, I did also state the following:
“You did however, do the right thing by calling the ambulance. I hope this doesn’t put you off from calling them in the future should you need them.”
It depends how one reads it. But the part of my response which you are mentioning came after that where I’m referring to calling an ambulance in the future. Hence, having the opportunity to speak to a healthcare professional before making a decision on whether to wait for an ambulance, or make their own way down to the hospital which was the advice given in my instance.
The response also ends with the advice to call 111 or 999 if symptoms get worse, which also allows access to a healthcare provider.
I hope your negative experiences are well behind you now, and you continue to have more positive experiences in the future.
So sorry to hear about your dads awful hospital experience. Maybe drive him to a different hospital. I can relate to this few years back I went to A&E twice with breathing problems each time sent home so the third time happened in early hours and was bad so when my sister called an ambulance I begged them to take me to a different hospital because of how awfully I had been treated at the other one so they were so lovely and took me to a different hospital. Ended up the next day in hospital for 2 weeks with pneumonia and a chest infection and asthma attack. So please if you do have to call an ambulance for your dad again which I hope you don't, ask to be taken to a different hospital hopefully a more understanding and caring one. I ended up making a formal complaint against one of the hospitals I went to. Probably best to insist he gets checked out again just to be safe ❤️.
When I had my heart attack I asked my husband to drive me to hospital.
My ECG was normal
There were markers in my blood
I had a stent fitted as I had a 95% blockage
All I could think of when my husband was taking me to hospital was what a friend of mine who took her husband to hospital rather than calling 999 was told by the doctors.
“If you had not driven him straight to hospital and waited for an ambulance, he would be dead!”
The hospital staff were wonderful and very professional. I cannot fault the care I received.
The ambulance response time to a heart attack should be 18 minutes.
Sadly during the winter there was a perfect storm of strike action, extra winter pressures of flu and other respiratory illness that impacted the whole of the NHS and the ambulance service.
Perhaps better to ring 999 for advice about the safest and quickest way to get to the correct hospital.
Only larger hospitals with heart attack centres have a 24 hour,7days a week service, providing angiograms and other necessary emergency treatments.
It can and does happen that a person is taken to the wrong hospital by a realtive, which delays their life saving treatment.
I hope you continue to recover well from your heart attack.
Hi, if blood markers are up its a sign of heart damage. Take him to your regular hospital immediately. It is imperative for treatment to be given ASAP. The longer you wait the more permanent damage could be done. I actually saw my cardiologist just yesterday and he said it was lucky I got to hospital quickly after my heart attack because the poorest outcomes often occur in people who wait over 12hrs. Please go now if you haven't already.
Please take him back, as bad as your experience was he clearly needs treatment. Its a disgrace what you have both been through and sadly there seems to be so much going wrong with our health system. However he needs to follow through.
Is there any value in going to the hospital you prefer if you feel safer there. Do they have cardiac specialist care. Was the reason they took him to another hospital due to capacity issues or dont they have the cardiac specialism he needed. Either way please follow through. If anything happened to him you would never get over having not having followed through. If you rang 111 I am sure they would advise you to go back as a priority. Very best wishes.
I'm sorry your dad has had this experience - and you too. Worrying for you both. That said, I can only add to the above. He really needs to be seen - so either go back or go to the hospital you are more familiar with. At the very least talk to 111. He must have felt ill/been in some pain to have woken you in the first place. I was sent by my GP to A and E with chest pains and the experience was tedious, to say the least. A and E was overwhelmed and I just had to sit it out. The blood markers - troponin - are taken several hours apart with a delay before results known - and when I was there there were no cubicles available so I sat in the open waiting room. It was pretty close to chaos, noisy, dirty and hot with no access to anything. But the second result is important - troponin levels go up if your heart is struggling. This was pre recent public health emergency btw, so if A and E was struggling then, it must be dreadful now. But it is safe. If your dad has had a HA then he really needs medical care - today if you can persuade him. Pls let us know how you and he get on.
Notify your specific complaints to hospital authorities, and care commission (as there have been a lot of complaints recently). I needed emergency treatment exactly a year ago. My only complaint was that I was admitted so quickly I did not have time to say thank you to the paramedics.
hello I do hope you get your dad back to hospital so he can be checked out. Stubborn lot dads sometimes but totally see why he’d be reluctant. But back he should go. ❤️
Oh dear, I am so very sorry to hear about your experience.
Which Health Trust are you with?
Our experience was the absolute opposite of yours… and even then, extremely distressing.
The North Hampshire Trust are trialling a new system where the ambulance crew brings A&E to you.
The ambulance arrived within 1/4 of an hour of calling 999
Portable machines/tests were brought to my husband’s bedside at home, his condition stabilised, the diagnosis made, theatre alerted to receive him for a stent procedure and a bed on the ward booked before being blue lighted to Basingstoke hospital, direct to heart unit theatre. Cutting out A&E, ambulance queues, waiting about on trolleys.
3 hours from first calling 999 to arrival in the ward having had the stent procedure.
Wonderful innovative thinking … 1st class treatment and our everlasting gratitude to North Hampshire for saving my husbands life.
And as a PS
Another NEW Hampshire initiative:-
Leaving hospital with a big bag of meds many of which had horrible side effects we found the following week extremely distressing.. until THE URGENT COMMUNITY RESPONSE UNIT were alerted & for a week my husband received a visit from members of the team of community nurses who monitored his progress & consulted with our GP in adapting the drug regime.
NOTHING BUT THE HIGHEST REGARD FOR OUR HOSPITAL TRUST.
Ive had horrific experiences of the Emergency services here recently. Before that, mostly really brilliant…a true emergency life-line.
In December 2022, with a suspected Heart Attack, I waited 2.5 hrs for an ambulance.
Two days ago 1 waited 4 hrs for an ambulance after falling and head injuries. Both following 111 doctor’s advice. Both times 999 suggested we get ourselves there, but ‘always go to the closest Hospital’ she advised. The visit took 4hrs total, but they did a lot in that time.
The NHS is really struggling, round us, but sounds a bit patchy with some services still working OK, and N Hampshire sounds a bit of a star!
I posted this in the hope that other Trusts might take note: it really is a success story. And I’m sure if I’d experienced what you did I’d have lost my beloved husband.
How recent is this trialling? Sounds like a really good idea.I too was seen at Basingstoke and whilst the care in the Coronary Care Unit was really good, as has been the follow-on treatment, my experience of A&E was quite different. Whilst the ambulance turned up within around 10mins after 111 said they'd called one and the paramedics were lovely once I got to the hospital it changed. I was stuck in the ambulance for about 30mins before they could get me into the hospital and only then to holding area before actually getting to A&E. Eventually walked into the Rat Bay (Rapid Assessment) where they took bloods, did ECG and then to the A&E waiting room where I sat for hours with no updates other than BP and Temp tests. Was getting fed up and thinking about coming home when my wife went and asked what was happening. This was about 6 hours after the ambulance arrived at my home, about a 10min drive away, and at this point she was told there was a "problem with my blood tests" shortly after that things moved a bit with a second blood test, ecg, scan and being told I was having an ongoing heart attack whilst this was being done and ACS treatment would start to "buy some time". Then whisked off for x-ray, given some tablets (including an aspirin to chew), injection in stomach, gtn spray and some gel (morphine?). Moved to an A&E bay to spend a rather noisy, sleepless night waiting to be seen by a Dr before being admitted to CCU. All in all was about 14 hours before I got to a ward and could rest. Had an angiograph that afternoon, no stent because of the location of the blockage and my "interesting arteries", and discharged the next day with a carrier bag of meds. I've had to go back a couple of times since and my experience has varied between brilliant to blinking awful in A&E. The staff have been lovely but at times they are so overwhelmed they can't cope and their processes could do with an overhaul which by the sounds of it is happening.
All this was back in November for the initial HA and then over the next few weeks, including Christmas Eve to Boxing Day which wasn't fun. Rehab and follow on has been very good including nurses ringing me to see how I was getting on.
That sounds traumatic. I’m so sorry you had such a different experience to ours.
The paramedic told me it was a NEW TRIAL.
My husband had his heart attack in the early hours of March 13th this year.
Maybe it was experiences such as yours that triggered the need for the new trial?
Felt I wanted to add a PS:-
We had to call 999 a second time during the first week after my husband’s discharge from hospital, as my husband was getting pains that weren’t responding to the “under tongue spray”
The paramedics did several ECG tests at intervals at our home over an half hour period and it was decided there WAS a “blip”… right where the stent was. The pain did not occur again… and it was considered an anomaly, and eventually my husband would get to understand the sensations as the stent settled down.
BUT chatting in between ECG readings the Paramedic DID talk of his frustration with people who called 999 unnecessarily. They have one patient who calls every week for a trip to hospital… they can’t not respond as it might be a real problem, this time.
And one woman who called in the middle of the night coz her daughter had severe period pains.
HOW CAN THE NHS STOP THE TIME WASTERS WHO BY-PASS 111 & ARE BLOCKING A&E?
I did feedback my experiences when they asked so perhaps that did feed into the new trial. Certainly sounds like they are trying to do something positive. Basingstoke A&E is really too small considering the size of Basingstoke and the surrounding areas. On one of my subsequent visits one of the nurses was in tears trying to cope. My experience outside of the initial visit has varied from whisked in and assessed before my wife had even booked me in to sat in the waiting area for many hours with little happening. I don't blame the staff, they are overwhelmed at times and we are lucky to have a new state of the art cath lab which, I believe, only opened last September.
How frustrating. I worked in the ambulance control room some 20 years ago and even they we used to get a lot of time wasters. Unless we could get people to say that they didn't want the ambulance we had to put it through to dispatch. However, they service did start bringing paramedics into the control room to phone these types of calls back to give advice and cancel the ambulance.
A couple of the ridiculous calls that I remember from my time there include someone calling to ask for an ambulance to come and move his ladder and another who claimed he had climbed on top of phone box and couldn't get down (he was using the payphone to call so I did ask him how he'd managed to dial 999 from up there)! I didn't send ambulances in those instances!
We had people prank calling all the time too, I particularly remember one that phoned up to ask me what I was wearing and talk dirty to him. Sigh.
The stories are humourous but the frustration and anger you feel when dealing with them are real. I wish people would realise that their call is stopping someone with a life threatening emergency getting the help they need.
Heavens above you must have had the patience of a Saint. I get so angry at time wasters and pranksters … as you say: they delay the response to people in real need.
Get him back to hospital. 7 hours is bad but I had a 14 hour one before being told I'd had a heart attack and was being transferred to a cardiac ward at another hospital. The results of the blood test often need to be done twice and it does take time, plus in a ans e all manner of stuff is going on. Don't risk doing nothing
no doubt in my response: get your dad back to hospital.
He might get another even ans possibly be more serious. Sadly, like many other here have said, long waits are now very common at the moment with the strain on the NHS but it is imperative to have your dad checked properly and possibly being followed by a cardiac team in the future.
Sorry to hear your dad had a bad experience. You don't say which area you live in, but were there strikes that day? If you want to let the hospital know what you feel about the way he was treated etc, email the PAL's department at the hospital. Your dad needs checking out properly. Good luck.
I know exactly where your coming from. It seems the care in hospitals today is a disgrace especially when you put your trust in the medical staff. Yet it still goes on. Anyway if I was you get your dad Monday morning to phone his dr and explained what happened to him at the hospital. Hopefully they will do a ECG promptly and get him a urgent referral because he definitely needs to be seen you don’t want anything else to happen to him. Obviously the first sign of pain,dizziness,breathlessness take him straight to A&E . 🤞
Hi, Sorry to hear about your bad experience at the hospital, I've recently recovered from a heart operation, I too was in hospital for several hours but eventually got 4he right care and got transfered to a cardiac specialist hospital.
My advice would be to admit your father as soon as possible as a friend of mine did the exact same felt he was fine and unfortunately passed away the next morning, I don't want to panic you but it's definitely better to be safe than sorry.
That was an awful experience for you both. I think I'd definitely want to take dad to your GP for the blood test, but as they're not open weekends I'm afraid it looks like a trip to A&E has to be done. If you go this morning it should be quieter, evenings are the busiest. Can you call the unit and tell them why your dad doesn't want to return there because of the waiting around. If it is his heart and he has another attack - well it doesn't bear thinking about!
I live in Devon and cannot speak highly enough of our ambulance service here. Late last year I'd been feeling ill for a while and one night when I went to bed I suddenly couldn't get my breath, sat up and was still gasping, rang 999 and an ambulance was with me in about 5-10 minutes and while I waited for it the 999 operator kept me on the phone until they arrived. I guess it was all part of the pneumonia that I had brewing.
I think it goes without saying that ideally you need to persuade your dad to go back. (Not easy. I know dad’s can be stubborn) Maybe give the hospital a ring for an urgent out patient appointment- maybe your dad will be more open to that, or a visit to your GP? (They could do an ecg and put in an urgent referral)
In the meantime I would start your dad on a low dose Asprin .
Hi there,I'm really sorry you've had this experience.
I do honestly believe it depends where you live!?
I have been extremely lucky . I've had 3 heart attacks since 2021 and have had great service from the ambulance each time. The waiting time in hospital is the same all over the UK I think. I waited some hours and you could clearly see how stretched the staff were.
If the traponin levels are high in the blood and there are cardio.enzymes present then this means there is something wrong with the heart. In my case 3 heart attacks. They take the blood twice to check traponins,so if your Dad discharged himself then they would want to take that other blood test. I know there are differences of opinion here but I don't see anything wrong with going straight to A& E yourself, especially if it is your own local hospital. I know it was very frustrating for your Dad but please encourage him to have this other test. When it comes to your heart don't take chances. But to get it checked our and be safe. Good luck and I hope your Dad is ok
Sadly this how it is now My last visit was waiting for an ambulance2and a half hours and waited 8 hours to see the doctor I was told I had AF with a heart beat of166 Luckily it ent down with out there help Another 4 and half hours in Emergency day care to get meds Was offered no food or drink although I am a diabetic so asked a doctor in AE for food This is not a one off Iv been in hospital on and off for the last 5 years but I’m always glad to get there and no I’m in safe hands We don’t have a option to go to another hospital They took all ours and closed them so we have one huge hospital Take it or leave it
At the very least try to persuade him to go to his GP tomorrow ( IF you can get an appointment) but if you explain what the hospital said I'm sure they would see him. I do understand his concerns about the hospital. I was left alone on a corridor behind a locked door for 5 h ours when I had my HA. I saw one nurse right away at handover wo offered me an aspsirin which I refused as I didn't know why she was offering it and aspirin hurts my stomach badly. I was taken in by ambulance at 10pm. It was 10 am before I was seen and given the blood test then 2pm I was admitted. The paramedics were wonderful; the hospital was appalling but if your dad had suspect troponin levels he really does need to see someone whether hospital orgP
I’m sorry to hear about the experience that you and your dad have had; I also empathise with how scary and frustrating it is when you feel powerless to get someone you love the care that you feel they need.
I had a similar experience at the start of the year with my 4 year old son when he was having breathing difficulties and I was told by 999 that the wait for an ambulance would take 8 hours. I told them quite clearly that I wasn’t prepared to leave my son waiting that long and I would drive him myself. He ended up being sick on the way and was so dizzy when we got there that he couldn’t walk so I bundled him in to the stroller just to get him through the door.
I would urge you to encourage your dad to visit a hospital that he has confidence in and get himself thoroughly checked out because without full and proper assessment, you don’t know what could happen and it’s better to be safe than sorry!
I had a heart attack last September, on the last but one day of our holiday in ….. We made our own way to the hospital because it was very near. They kept me in and told me the next morning that I’d had a heart attack. Twelve days later I was still there waiting for a stent.
It turned out that the hospital was having problems with the number of patients being admitted with Covid. In the twelve days I was there I was moved four times. The third time I was put in isolation, with a room to myself but sharing a toilet with the staff until given my own facilities. After a few days I was moved to what had been the Covid ward - arriving as they were finishing the deep clean, There were two patients there who had just been given the all clear and we were joined by a fourth lady. On the fourth day we were all given a Covid test and out of the four of us, I was the only one who didn’t have Covid. Somebody obviously in authority rushed in and said that I must be the first to be removed. I was moved to another single room and after a couple of days was moved to the cardiac ward and had my stent. One of the cardiac nurses came in and told me that she was surprised that I hadn’t had a blood test during the entire time I had been there. This was true, other than the Troponin test. Maybe if I’d had, they would have realised that my liver readings were very high. In fact 8 months later it is still high and yesterday I had an array of liver tests. The jury is still out as to whether the 80mg of Atoravastatin contributed to it.
So I do sympathise with your father’s predicament but I would really try to persuade him to go in.
Incidentally the nurses at this hospital were wonderful and that is why I haven’t lodged a complaint.
Good luck with your father and apologies for this long post. I’m so glad to be able to get it off my chest!
There seems to be a huge array of thoughts and opinions here… we can only judge it by our own experiences I suppose.
Just after one lunchtime at the end of November my husband started having extreme pain, chest, back, arms, neck. His GTN spray did nothing to help it. He was upstairs bent double on the floor and he literally couldn’t move, neither could I lift him..he’s large and heavy and I am of small build.
I called an ambulance immediately and told them everything and followed their instructions re. GTN spray and aspirin. They told me an ambulance would be coming as soon as possible but that there were delays as they were busy due to backlogs but to be assured that one was coming.
One did come but not till some 5 hours later even though I had repeatedly called them and begged them to come quickly as his condition was deteriorating and he was in continual excruciating pain and struggling to cope. Their advice was should anything ‘happen’ to try and roll him over and call back again. They told me he was on the urgent list and would get an ambulance as soon as possible.
I did all I could to try and keep his circulation going and did not let up for the entire 5 hours..I don’t know if it helped but I hope it did and perhaps alleviated some damage. All we could do was be fully present with one another in that awful fearful time.
The ambulance people when they finally arrived were lovely and cannot be faulted, but they then had to wait outside with my husband in the ambulance for quite some time making several phone calls just to try and find anywhere to be able to take him.. our entire local region had nothing (we’re in Worcestershire) and they finally had to make a decision to go fully out of their area to another hospital some 40 odd miles ( and nearly an hours drive) away. They said that had not happened to them before and were as disbelieving as we were. They told me that even if I had somehow managed to get him down the stairs and into a car, there was nowhere that could have taken him out of our 3 ‘local’ hospitals, they were all ‘broken’ in their words.
Eventually at the hospital he was seen at A& E and given blood tests. A& E was busy and the wait was long, but the staff were all very, very kind.. every single one of them.
Blood tests showed my husband had indeed had a heart attack and we waited in a side room for many more hours until he went for a scan/ X-ray of sorts, by now it was around 1.30 am. He was eventually admitted to the cardiac ward at around 3am.
As they assessed him a few hours later he began having a second heart attack and was immediately taken to theatre to have stents fitted and blockages removed from an older stent that proved to be the cause of his heart attacks.
Thank God he was there at the time and able to get swift attention. We are both exceptionally grateful for the excellent care he received there but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t still really, really angry about that dreadful traumatic 5 hour wait for the initial ambulance. When you read all the advice about getting swift treatment it makes me wonder how much less damage would have been caused had he been seen sooner. It’s something we’ll never know I suppose and we’re just thankful that he survived at all.
What it has done though is made me feel very uncertain and unsafe and sad in that I used to have an unshakeable faith that in a real emergency that help would arrive swiftly… that no longer seems to apply.
I see on here that some people have been far more fortunate in that help arrived very quickly for them and that is a good and wonderful thing but that was not the case for us.
I’m sorry for the long post… it’s the first time I’ve put it to writing and it’s probably been more of a therapeutic thing for me to do so. On a positive note after a further surgery 6 weeks after his heart attacks my husband is now on the road to recovery and starting to feel stronger and more confident again.
Thoughts and good wishes to all on here, from the sidelines over here this site has been of huge comfort to me and an excellent source of good honest information. Thank you. x
CuriosiD what an awful thing to go through, both with your husband having the heart attack, and probably feeling quite helpless when the ambulance didn’t turn up, to then having to face the wait at the hospital and being moved out of the area due to there not being enough room.
I’m sorry you had to go through that however, I’m pleased he was treated well at the hospital and he is now on the path to recovery.
Hi everyone, thank you so much again for all your helpful messages. I thought I would update you all on what we did. I managed to get him to go to see his GP who he trusts.
The GP told him off for leaving and said that it can take a long time to get all the tests done, as a lot of you pointed out! My dad was on blood thinners and stations following a couple of TIAs a while ago so the Dr prescribed beta blockers and has referred him to the cardiac unit at Guys and St Thomas. We're now waiting for the appointment and my dad is doing really well.
Incidentally, the hospital that we went to was in the papers this week because they 'wasted money' on painting a giant pride flag on the outside of the building.
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Told it was a panic attack when I was in fact having a heart attack 
not sure what is going on 
What are we doing wrong in the UK.
AF. Not sure what to expect?
